Marauders Never Learn
by klgw
Summary: Lily Evans hates, no detestes, James Potter, and, to be honest, he hasn't made himself out to be the knight in shining armour, but, in their seventh year, can that all change?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: this is my second fan fiction and I am quite excited about it. This story will be continued in several chapters, but at the moment, I have only written this one, so don't expect the next chapter up for a while.

Please read on…

Lily Evans stomped down the Hogwarts Express's corridor loudly, causing several heads to appear out of compartments curiously, marched and into an empty compartment with a furious expression on her face.

After slamming the door shut, she emitted a quiet shriek of annoyance and slumped onto the seat underneath her with a big grunt.

"Knock, knock." Remus Lupin, sadly one of the Marauders, but one of her close friends, mouthed from the other side of the compartment door, his hands raised as if to knock.

"Come in," she mumbled, waving him in with her hand.

Remus quietly walked in and slid the door shut behind him, before coming to sit next to her on the seat she was sitting on.

"What did he do this time?" Remus asked the obvious question. He knew how much James Potter could annoy me.

I crossed my arms across my chest and sighed.

"He went to far this time Remus; he grabbed me from behind, spun me around and kissed me square on the mouth! It was disgusting! Revolting! My first instinct was to slap him across the face, which I did of course, and was quite proud of how much force I put in it, if I do say so myself." Remus chuckled at that part. "I spun around and stomped all the way here. I didn't believe he would do that, I mean I thought he - ugh!" She threw her hands up in the air in frustration, and then covered her face with them.

"Lily," Remus gently tugged her hands away from her face and held her hands tightly in his own. "James is a immature idiot that needs to learn to deflate his head, but he is also a kind hearted, love sick teenage boy who would do about anything for you to go out with him."

She started laughing, she really couldn't help it. "Remus, you went all gooey on me, it was kind of creepy!" Lily covered her mouth with her hand to try and stifle the laughter.

"Gooey! Did you seriously just say I was gooey!" she nodded silently, still trying not to laugh. Remus shook his head sadly feigning sadness. "You have wounded me Lily Evans, wounded me. I hope you are happy!" he stood suddenly and headed for the door saying, "I shall go to where I am accepted for my differences, to my fellow Marauders!" he bowed and opened the door, ready to leave.

"Your sounding more and more like Sirius as the days go on!" Lily said smugly, as she looked at his disgusted face.

"Please, are you suggesting that I flirt with everything that can breath and move?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

At the look on his face, she burst out laughing again, but stopped it quickly by covering her mouth.

"No," Lily started. "What I meant was you're getting to be just as dramatic as Sirius; even though no-one could ever beat Sirius in that department."

"Oh… well good then." Remus looked relieved that Lily meant that rather than the former. "But I seriously need to get back to the guys, they will be wondering where I am." Remus seemed to be edging further and further through the compartment door and into the corridor by each second.

"Go!" she laughed, shooing him away with her hands. Then she seemed to remember something. "Wait!" she called. Remus stopped walking and turned around.

"Yes," he called back.

"If you see Alice, would you tell her where I am so that she can come and find me? If you don't know where she is, ask for Frank, she is usually with him." Lily rolled her eyes, thinking about her best friend Alice and her boyfriend Frank. Alice spends every moment with Lily talking about Frank, thinking about Frank, or talking to Frank. Frank was all this girl could talk about, it was quite frightening really.

"Sure thing, see you Lily" he called, turning back around and walking though a door separating the different corridors.

"See you," She replied, walking back into the compartment.

As she looked outside the window onto the wildlife around her, she thought about the year she was leaving behind. Next year she would be year seven, hopefully she would get the head girl position and be able to live up to the expectations the position offered. Hopefully.

She sighed as she gazed at the beautiful scenery. She would be going back to her sister's constant insults and her mother and fathers insistent badgering. Oh joy.

Next year will be different, she told herself silently. It will be different.

A/N: hi, not much has been done in this chapter, but I thought this way it would make you want to read more! Anyway, I will bring in some more characters in the next chapter, however, not all of them. You will have to stay tuned to see the rest of them!

Please review!

klgw x


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Chapter two, I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it!

So, read on…

Chapter 2: Train Ride, Part 2.

"Mom, Vernon is coming over tomorrow evening and I want every thing to be perfect. Nothing can go wrong, understand?" Petunia, Lily Evans' very annoying older sister told her mother for the hundredth time today. "I want to go into London and get the groceries from there. Ok?" Petunia demanded to our mother, cocking one light eyebrow at her.

"Yes darling, I told you that we would go shopping today after we drop off Lily at the train station. We will go shopping straight after that, ok honey?" her mother said in a very strained voice. Her hands gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly to be considered comfortable.

Petunia nodded stiffly and continued to stare straight ahead of her, looking at the road in front, barely moving.

Lily turned around in the back seat of the car and looked out of the window next to her, thinking about her best friend Alice and how much she missed her. She hoped she would see her on the platform before she boards the train.

"We're here," her mother called to her, jolting her away from the window.

"Great," Lily smiled; she really couldn't wait to see her friends again.

Her mother got out of the car and went to the boot to get her trunk out. Lily followed.

"Well, here we are then. Are you ready to go?" her mother asked in a small voice. This always happened. Her mother would start crying every time she leaves for school and that would set off Lily, making her cry as well.

"Yeah, I have every thing. Please don't cry mom, you'll set me off too." Lily laughed, hugging her tight. She hugged Lily back fiercely.

"Bye mom, I love you." Lily mumbled into her shoulder.

"Love you too, sweetie." She said back, voice thick with emotion.

Lily pulled back and her mother wiped at Lily's cheek. She had been crying. She felt foolish for crying, especially since it was her last year, even if it was a tradition.

"Bye," Lily waved at her mother and sister, who gave her a sneer as usual, and turned to enter platform 9 ¾.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she was bombarded by her best friend, Alice. She hugged her back and then stepped back to look at her.

"It's so good to so you again, I missed you like crazy." Alice said, hugging her again.

"So did I," she said. She looked around and then back at Alice, who was wearing a massive smile on her face.

"Do you want to go and get a compartment?" Lily asked, indicating with her thumb towards the train.

"Yeah, sure," Alice said, linking arms with her.

"So, where's Frank?" Lily asked when they were sitting in an empty compartment.

"Well, Frank told me that he wanted to go find the boys and catch up with them for a bit. So he'll probably be her in a minute." She said, inspecting her nails.

"How are you guys," Lily asked, even though she pretty much knew what the answer would be.

"Oh, we're great Lily, really. All through summer all I could do was think of him. We kept owling each other, but it's not the same as being in the same room, you know? That's why I was so excited to go back to school, to see him again. When I saw him on the platform, my heart literally leapt out of my chest-."

"Okay, okay, enough already, your making me want to puke." Lily interrupted, pulling a face at her and holding her stomach.

"Shut up," Alice laughed. "You ask, you receive." She said, laughing again as Lily pulled another face at her.

"What's all this laughing about?" a new voice asked. Lily turned around in her seat to see Sirius Black standing in the doorway. He moved into the compartment and sat opposite Lily and Alice. Remus soon followed, but sat next to Lily instead. They answered his question, then talked for a bit, until the compartment door slide open again to reveal Frank Longbottom and James Potter.

Frank headed straight for Alice and they started kissing very passionately right in front of Lily and the rest of them. James hesitantly walked in and peeked over at Lily before deciding to sit next to Sirius.

"So, Lily, how was your holiday?" Remus asked. It seemed like he was doing it to break the tension in the room, obviously caused by Lily and James's presence.

"Um… what? Oh, yeah, it was alright I guess. I mean considering I spent a whole summer listening to my annoying older sister who wants nothing to do with me drone on and on about her stupid oaf of boyfriend and how perfect he is, I guess I held out pretty well." Lily said in a rush. She looked over at Remus who was half way between being amused and sympathetic, then at Sirius who was looking at her as though she had lost her mind, at Alice and Frank, who were still glued at the mouth, and finally at James, who had a very serious look on his face. When she met his eye, she could see understanding in them, and it shocked her. She quickly looked down at her hands and then rubbed her face with them. He was not supposed to be like this, she thought, he is meant to be an inconsiderate toe rag.

"I'm sorry Lily," Remus said, placing his hand on top of Lily's.

"It's ok; I'm used to it by now. It doesn't affect me anymore." She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

"You alright James, you look a little pale mate." Sirius said, smiling slightly. Lily looked over at James and saw that he had indeed gone pale and was glaring at Remus. Remus himself looked quite amused by his friend's behaviour, and knew exactly what had triggered it, so decided to uncover Lily's hand from his own to avoid any arguments.

James muttered something about needing some air and left the compartment very quickly.

"Well… anyone want a game of exploding snaps?" Sirius asked clapping his hands together and looking around the compartment for possible players.

"You sure do know how to break the tension, Padfoot." Remus said, laughing at him and reaching for the cards to play with.

"Has anyone seen Peter?" Lily asked. She had been wondering where he had been for the past 15 minutes.

"He said he was going to the toilet like half an hour ago, I could go look for him if you want?" The ever helpful Remus asked Lily.

"If you want to, I was just wandering where he was really." Lily said back to him.

James's head appeared through the compartment door. He looked straight at Lily and said, "Evans, there's a head meeting in five minutes. Thought I should tell you, so that you don't panic. Like you always do." James muttered the last bit under his breath so no-one could hear him.

"Oh my God!" Lily jumped up; causing Sirius and Remus's game of exploding snap to blow up, nearly singing off their eyebrows. "I completely forgot to tell you! I made head girl!" Alice congratulated and hugged her while James and Sirius both snickered behind their backs.

"What's so funny?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily just stood there glaring at James.

"Nothing's funny, it's just, of course we knew that Lily would get the head girl position. She's the smartest girl in our year." Sirius said, lounging on the compartment seat. "Haven't you got somewhere to go Lily? You know, you got to meet up with the head boy, who ever he is." Sirius sent an amused glance over at James.

"Yeah, I better get going. See you later guys." She quickly waved before sprinting out of the compartment and into the hallway.

Lily entered the head's compartment and looked at all the prefects, trying to locate the new head boy. As she looked over, she saw Severus Snape openly staring at her, she ignored him.

She decided to sit down and wait for the head boy to appear, after realising he was not in the room.

As she was tapping her pencil against the table in front of her, she saw Remus and the last person she would expect to see enter the room: James Potter.

She almost died when he walked over to her and showed her the head boy badge.

"What? You're head boy? How? When? Why?" Lily was trying and failing to keep her voice down.

"Yeah, I'm head boy. I thought it was a joke when I got it. I was pretty sure Remus or Amos Diggory would get it, not me." He shook his head and looked down at his badge, shining brightly in the light.

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm stuck with you. Not like I'm happy about it." She ground her teeth together and stood up, addressing the prefects as she did so.

James just stood behind her, looking at her longingly. Wishing that he could only reach out and take her hand…

"Potter?" Lily asked him, knocking him out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah?" he said back, running his hands through his hair.

"It's time to go, unless you want to stay behind, which wouldn't bother me one bit." Lily said, with her back to him, tidying up the paperwork on the table in front of her.

"Yeah, thanks. Um, bye." He waved at her, even though she couldn't see him with her back turned, and left the compartment in search of the Marauders.

Lily turned around and leaned up against the table, running her hands through the long, straight, red hair.

Is it possible that he could have changed over the summer into a nice person? She thought to herself, as the train came to a steady stop at Hogsmeade station.

A/N: I like this chapter a lot. Please review!

Klgw xx


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: another chapter. Sorry for the long wait! :'(

Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 3: Finally home.

Lily and Alice were walking to the great hall with the rest of the students, until they heard a loud banging noise coming from a nearby classroom.

"What was that?" Alice asked, as her hand automatically reached for her wand in her robe pocket.

"Move along! Move along! Nothing to see here. It was just Peeves mucking around again. Causing havoc to celebrate the new school year." Professor McGonagall said, moving so that she was in front of the students. "Now off to your house tables, and do it quickly. The sorting will begin soon." After she said this, she turned briskly on her heel and disappeared through the main doors.

"Come on," Lily said, tugging on her best friends arm.

Once they were seated, the sorting began, and the first years came flooding in.

After the last first year got sorted into Slytherin, Dumbledore rose from his seat, gave the customary start of the year speech, and then the feast began.

As the food appeared, Lily heard the new first years gasp, and she smiled to herself, thinking about the first ever Hogwarts meal she had had and how exciting it was for her.

She started piling food onto her plate and talked to Alice and Frank, whilst trying to ignore the Marauder's loud voice's from the other end of the table.

Lily couldn't take it anymore, so she finally looked over at their part of the table with a scowl on her face, which immediately caught the attention of James.

He waved at her, causing Sirius to almost choke on the food he was eating. Remus patted him on the back, while Lily just rolled her eyes.

She looked back at her plate of food and looked up again when she heard her name being called, rather loudly, might she add.

"Yes?" She asked sharply, turning her head to look at James.

"Hey Evans," he laughed, while Remus looked from Lily to James, shaking his head down into his plate, knowing what his friend was going to say, and knowing what would happen next. "Will you go out with me?" he smirked at Remus, Sirius and Peter, who had appeared at James's side as soon as the train doors opened, and finally looked at Lily.

Lily's face turned beet red, while all the students, apart from the first years, turned away from Lily, already knowing what would happen.

"Of course not Potter! The only time I would ever go out with you would be when hell freezes over!" She snapped back at him.

James flinched slightly, but then turned on a dazzling smile, and said, "I'll get you eventually Evans."

He winked at Lily before turning back to Sirius, who had been cat calling when James asked Lily out and was now laughing his head off with Peter.

_I cannot believe I thought he had changed,_ Lily thought, mashing her potatoes together on her plate. _But I guess guys like Potter never change. _

"Lily? Lily?" Alice waved her hand in front of Lily's face, shocking her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" She said, dropping her fork.

Alice laughed. "Come on sleepy head, time to go to our dorms." She said standing up from her seat.

Lily looked around and noticed that the Great Hall was emptying quickly, the only people left being herself, Alice, Frank and-

"Evans!" Potter. Ugh. She stood up from the table and spun on him, sending him a glare.

"What do you want Potter?" she said bitingly, folding her arms in front of her.

"We have to go see Dumbledore." He said, walking toward Dumbledore, not waiting for her to follow.

"Humph," she sighed, slumping her shoulders and following him, saying goodbye to Alice and Frank over her shoulder.

"Ah, Miss Evans, Mr Potter, what a pleasure it is to see you," Dumbledore greeted, smiling brightly at them. "Now, if you would be so kind as to follow me." He turned away from them and walked briskly towards the door.

Lily was eager to follow the headmaster and left James trailing behind in her wake.

Dumbledore rounded a corner and walked down an empty corridor for what seemed like the millionth time that night, as she too followed down the quiet corridor.

Finally, Dumbledore came to a halt in front of a painting of Godric Gryffindor and turned towards Lily and James, who had been silently following Lily the whole way there. "Right," he clapped his hands together in front of him, the painting of Godric Gryffindor eyeing them carefully. "This is the head dormitories." He pointed toward Godric's painting and back to them. "I would have liked to have been able to show you around your dormitories myself, but, alas, I cannot. I have business to attend to. So, I will leave you here. I hope you find everything to your liking." Dumbledore smiled at Lily and James. "So, good luck at your head duties and I hope to see you soon." He walked away and seemed to vanish into thin air.

Lily moved away from James and crossed her arms firmly over her chest, only now noticing the close proximity they were from each other. "So… what do we do now?" she asked James reluctantly, spinning around to face him.

This seemed to catch James off guard as he took a step back and cleared his throat. "Well… I'm guessing we have to make up a password for the entrance and then find our rooms." He cleared his throat and then looked away from Lily and at the portrait.

"Ok then," Lily said briskly, turning to face the portrait aswell. "I think the password should be something hard to figure out yet easy for us to remember and be able to say." She spun around to face James, who had currently been staring off into space and said "Do you agree?"

James quickly looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Lily rolled her eyes at him being unfocused and turned back to the portrait. "How about this tongue twister rhyme I know, it's pretty easy to learn."

James nodded his head at her, "Sounds good,"

Lily quickly told him the password and then they both said it at the same time to the portrait, so that it would let them in. "_She sells sea shells on the sea shore._"

"Welcome Miss," Godric bowed to Lily and then turned to James. "Welcome Sir," he also bowed to James. "This will be your new dormitories for the year, look after it. You may enter." The portrait opened and the two walked into their new common room.

A/N: Yay! It's finally finished! Please review, I appreciate and take all of your advice on board when I write!

Klgw xx


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: hi, sorry it's so late; I had a writer's block. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review!

Chapter 4: I hate him!

It was a week after they first came back to school and were shown their separate head dorms. Luckily, Lily sighed in relief, at the top of the long winding staircase, there were two doors, each with different passwords. This meant that James Potter would not be getting near or even remotely close to her once she had closed and locked the door.

Lily sighed and looked down at her homework spread out in front of her in her room on her bed. She reached out and grabbed her potions essay, which she was halfway through, and tried again, for the third time that evening, to complete it.

Suddenly a big bang coming from downstairs jolted her out of her homework-like trance.

She sighed angrily, stood up and went downstairs to see what had happened.

As she got to the bottom of the long windy stairs, she looked up and immediately covered her nose with her hand. The smell was horrifying. As she looked around, she saw Remus's head sticking up from the back of a big leather sofa in the back of the room. He had a nose plug on his nose and apparently seemed not to be bothered at all. He gave Lily an uneasy smile as her saw her enter the room.

She also saw Potter and Sirius who were both laughing hysterically and had tears of laughter in their eyes. That is, until they saw her standing there in the middle of the room with a glare which could put McGonagall to shame.

James looked at her and gulped, secretly fearing for his life.

Lily looked around the room and said, surprisingly evenly, "What the hell happened in here." She didn't raise her voice, and, for James, that made it a whole lot worse.

"Well, you see – we were-." Sirius started but decided not to continue at the death glare Lily sent his way.

"Potter!" she barked, rounding on him. He whimpered and attempted to hide behind Sirius, who just snickered and pushed him right in front of her.

James audibly gulped; it was a common fact that he was very intimidated of Lily's death glare – as was everyone else. "Y-yes Evans?" he said as confidently as he could, whilst staring her in the eye.

"What did you do to our common room!" she gestured to the smoke and horrid smell around her, whilst wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Would you be angry if I told you we _accidently_ set off Zonkos' finest stink bomb in the middle of the common room?" James asked hopefully.

James' face fell at the way Lily's face had gone slightly red and her eyes had narrowed. He knew that look very well. It was the look she always put on him if he did something wrong, which was most of the time.

"Oh, of course _Potter_," she sneered, folding her arms across her chest. "Oh course you _accidently _set a stink bomb off!" she laughed bitterly. "Yeah right!" she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Suddenly, Remus came to stand next to her, effectively saving James from the death glare she was directing toward him. "Well, actually Lily, the bomb did go off by itself." Lily's glare softened and she stared incredulously at him. "Sirius and James were trying to get rid of the smell and the fog before you came down?" it came out more as a question than statement as he stared at her nervously.

Lily stared at then for a little while longer before sighing and saying quietly, "Potter, this mess had better be cleaned up before I come back in one hour, or else you will be finding yourself in a _very_ uncomfortable situation." She glared at them all – but longer at James – until she turned around and walked quickly up the stairs.

Once they heard the door shut, James sighed angrily and rubbed at his face with his hands.

"Cheer up mate; at least she hasn't used the death threat yet." Sirius said, patting his shoulder, trying and failing to be comforting.

"Oh yeah, like that's supposed to cheer me up?" James asked incredulously, shaking his head at him.

"Sorry, only trying to be helpful." Sirius flung himself down on the couch, whilst Remus muttered an easy cleaning spell under his breath that made the stink bomb remains disappear.

James sat down on the couch and stared at the dimming fire in the common room, thinking about a certain redheaded girl who was currently sitting upstairs fuming mad at him.

James sighed again and turned to face his two best friends. "What am I supposed to do guys?" he asked desperately, wringing his hands. "I don't know what to do anymore; I've tried everything I know!" he said rather loudly, eyes bright. "She hates me! I've tried to be friendly with her but she just thinks I'm trying to seduce her or something like that, but I'm not!" he shouted. "I-I just don't know if it's worth it anymore." He mumbled, looking so dejected that his friends looked at each other worriedly.

"Of course she's worth it Prongs." Said Sirius. "She's the love of your life, your not going to let her go that easily, huh?" he nudged his shoulder with his own. "Yeah, sure, she can be annoying sometimes and yeah, she'll scream and yell at you, but you have to look past that and think about all the things you love about her, right?" he said, looking at James pleadingly.

James was shocked to say the least, that was the longest speech Sirius had ever said about girls before – well Lily really, but still. He grinned at Sirius and Remus, who both did the same in return and turned his head slightly in the direction of the staircase.

"Evans!" he called out, waiting for a response.

"What Potter!" Lily shouted back in a bored but slightly irritated tone.

"Just wanted to say…" he looked at his friends, who nodded and then back at the staircase.

"I'm sorry."

Lily was shocked to hear him apologise, but managed to say, in a reasonably even voice considering her shocked state, "Um, your welcome."

James grinned again and turned back around. Well, at least I'm making progress, he thought happily.

A/N: Hi, this isn't really my favourite chapter, it didn't seem like it was going anywhere, but, oh well, its here now. I can't be bothered to change it now. :)

Hope you enjoyed it!

Klgw xx


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